Book lists volunteer work vacation opportunities

Posted by Elena del Valle on July 17, 2015

Volunteer Vacations

Volunteer Vacations

Photo: Independent Publishers Group

Are you tired of going on vacation to the same place every year? Do you yearn to do more than just lounge on the beach every day during your getaway? If so a different kind of break might appeal to you. Every year people dedicate their free time to worthy causes and many of them pay for the privilege. Some are families traveling together, others are seniors with time to spare, and many are people with few or many skills seeking a way to make a difference on their time off from work.

In Volunteer Vacations: Short-Term Adventures That Benefit You and Others, 11th Edition (Chicago Review Press, $18.95) Doug Cutchins, Bill McMillon, and Anne Geissinger share an extensive list of 150 organizations offering such volunteerism opportunities. The 431-page softcover book published in 2012 includes a foreword by Ed Asner.

The book provides some basic information about voluntourism, the work and vacation combination. Each listing profiles the organization, its mission, projects, year founded, number of volunteers in the previous year, work they do, locations, costs, duration, and type of skills they seek. There are also short descriptions from past volunteers about their personal experiences on a project.

The charitable organizations in the United States and abroad are diverse and host travelers for a variety of projects and lengths. Vacationers can participate in projects such as searching for sea turtle nests in Greece or Taiwan, for example, or teaching English in a remote village.

When the book was published McMillon was a freelance writer for Odyssey magazine. Cutchins was director of service and social commitment at Grinnell College, and Geissinger was a part-time photographer.